IN order to understand our present day Book of Mormon we only need to understand the origin and history 5 sets of plates. Only 2 of these plates the small plates of Nephi and the plates of Mormon were the ones that were given to the Prophet Joseph Smith and translated by him. THe 5 plates that we will be concerned with in chronological order then are the plates of Either, the brass plates of laban, the large plates of Nephi the small plates of nephi and the plates of Mormon.
The plates of Ether our current Book of Mormon refers to 24 plates of Either but it most likely is 24 sets of plates that cover nearly 2000 years. All that we have of these plates is the abridgement of these plates as it was done by _______ . As we know it primarily contains the story of the people that we know of as the Jaridites. 31 pages long from page xx to page xx in the current version of the book of mormon. As far as we know Joseph Smith never had the plates of Either in his possession.
The second is the plates of Brass of Laban. Interesting to note that this is not how they would have said it in New York in 1820's we would say it "the brass plates" or "the plates of Laban" or something like that but in the book of mormon they are referred to as "the plates of brass of laban" or "look up" demonstrating that Joseph would have had to have knowledge of how they spoke in those days to be consistent with their speaking. as he translated it. The plates of brass were written in Egyptian and lehi could as he had been taught to read as the book of mormon says to read egyptian. These plates primarily deal with the descendants of Joseph who was sold into Egypt. Therefore in a sense the plates of brass might be considered as part of stick of Joseph or the stick of Ephriam mentioned in the old testament Ezekiel 37. THese plates were obtain by Nephi and his brothers when they retrieved them from Laban. THese plates contain the 5 books of Moses, and many other books found in our present day old testament including Isaiah. the plates of brass were more complete than the translation of our current day old testament. Nephi who was personally acquainted with the plates of brass and who also saw our present old testament in vision said that many plain and precious truths had been taken from the records that now appear as our present day bible. Also the words of many others prophets are contained on the plates of brass which include the prophet Zenos, Zenock, Ezias and Neon. Joseph Smith did not translate directly from the plates of brass and we have no evidence that he ever had them. We have in our present book of mormon only those portions are quoted by the engravers of the two sets of plates received by Joseph Smith the Small plates of Nephi and the Plates of Mormon.
The third set of Plates that we are concerned with are the Large plates of Nephi. THese plates were started just after Lehi and his family left Jerusalem. THey are both a religious and a secular history of Lehi and his descendants. THey contain a series of books that were named after the authors who wrote on these plates originally. THese plates cover the people that are descendants of Lehi and his group ( Remember that both Ismeal and Labans' servant went with them) from the time 600 years before the time of Christ to 400 after the time of Christ. These plates were abridged by mormon in the 4th century AD. And we have parts of Mormons abridgement in our present Book of Mormon. However the unabridged Large plates of Nephi contain many things not contained in our present day Book of Mormon. Including "a full account of the history of Nephis' people" "the genealogy of Lehi" and "the more-part of the Teachings of the resurrected Christ to the Nephite nation". Again we have no indication the Joseph Smith ever had the large plates of Nephi in his possession or that he ever translated from them.
The fourth set of plates and the first set that Joseph Smith had in his possession and from which he translated was the small plates of Nephi. These plates were started about 570 before christ and primarily contain the religious history of the Lehite colony for the 470 years of its existence. some of the religious teaching of the brass plates were copied onto these plates. The translation of these plates comprise the first 143 pages of the current book of mormon. Included in this translation are the books 1st Nephi, 2nd Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Jarom and Omni. THey are written in the first person account in other words these plates have not been abridged by any person at any time. THe prophet Joseph Smith had the Small plates of Nephi in his possession and translated directly from them.
The other set of plates that Joseph had in his possession were the plates of Mormon. They were delivered to the prophet Joseph on sep 23 1827 by the angel Moroni. essentially these plates are an abridgement of the by mormon initial recorded on the large plates of Nephi. Together with some first person accounts by mormon in the Words of Mormon, some first person accounts of Moroni and Moronis' abridgement of the plates of Ether. A portion of the plates of Mormon were sealed and have not been translated. We are not certain what they contain but Moroni was the writer and therefore may have been the major engraver of the plates of Mormon. The books that were contained in this set of plates are as follows the words of mormon, Mormons abridgment of the Large plates of Nephi which includes Mosiah, Alma, Heleman, 3rd Nephi 4th Nephi and the 1st 7 chapters of the small book of mormon. Out of 530 pages we received 340 pages from the mormon himself as he abridged the large plates of Nephi. Also in the plates of Mormon we have the abridgements and writings of Moroni which contain chapters 8 and 9 in the small book of mormon, Moronis' abridgement of the book of Ether and book of moroni.
There were many other plates but these are the only four plates that deal either directly or indirectly with the book of mormon and the latter two plates the only ones from which joseph smith translated. and make up the present day book of mormon.
The engravers of the small plates of Nephi which contain the 1st person accounts or those engravers, and the portions of plates of Mormon that contain the abridgements of mormon and moroni. Only 11 engravers for the entire present day book of mormon. There are 9 engravers for the small plates of Nephi and they are as follows:Nephi who provides information for the 1 and 2nd books of Nephi, Jacob book of jacob, Enos the son of jacob book of Enos, Jarom book of jarom, omni 1st 3 verses of book of omni, Amoron verse 4- 8 of book of Omni, Chemish verse 9 of the book of Omni, Abinadim son of chemish book of Omni verse 10- 11, and Abinadi son of Abinadum verse 12-30 of book of Omni. Only 2 outside of Seven pages.
The rest of the engraving of the book of mormon was part of the father and son combination of Mormon and his son moroni. Mormon engraves Words of Mormon, Mosiah, Alma, Helaman, 3rd Nephi, 4th Nephi 1st 7 chapters of the smaller book of mormon with-in the greater book of mormon. Mormon abridged his own extensive record of the book of mormon which is the smaller book of mormon. 2nd engraver was moroni 8 and 9th chapters of smaller book of mormon, book of either which is an abridgement of the plates of ether, and also the book of moroni.
Except for the relatively brief contributions of Enos, Jarom, Omni, Chemish, Abinidum and Amalichi which comprise only about 7 pages was engraved by one of only four persons Nephi Jacob Mormon Moroni
In order to fully understand the book of mormon we should know something about each of these four men and the experiences that they had that were common. Shared Experience include each was a personal witness of jesus christ. Nephi and his brother Jacob saw the premortal christ and were visited by and talked with him. Mormon and his son moroni after christ saw the resurrected christ and were visited by and talked with him.
Each was personally tutor by christ as to what they should write. indeed jesus christ is the author.
each were visited by angels and or translated beings & were instructed by these beings. nephi and jacob were tutor by 1st nephi 11 and 2nd nephi chapter 10. Mormon and moroni were taught by translated beings including the three nephi disciples. 3 Nephi 28 vs 26 and mormon 8 vs 11. Each saw our days and challenges and they wrote for us not the people of their time. not even published during the lifetime of the writers.
Mormon chapter 8 "Behold the lord hath shown...I know of your doing" them the chapters that follow prove that he saw our day. He took from all the volumes that he had and sifted through it and gave to us what he taught was most important. a thrill read the 50 pages that moroni wrote then close book and ask what did moroni see in our day that prompted moroni to write this down?
Mormon only wrote one hundredth part 340 pages * 100 would equal 57000 pages available.
written for us by prophets who were faithful to the lord as they were abridging the records as the lord forbade something stopped because the lord forbade in 3rd Nephi.believe these things then the greater things shall be revealed. I write those things commanded by the lord. Write the lesser thing first sealed portion of book of mormon still left as we don't have it yet.
2 nephi 28:29 line upon line
Not a complete scripture in the church paul wrote other appiseles, book of joseph not in the pearl of great price joseph smith translated it why don't we have it?
#5 all bore strong testimonies of jesus christ that jesus christ is the e christ and the divine son of god
#6 all engravers warn that we will be accountable for what has been written 2 nephi 33"face to face"... "i must obey amen". Jacob chapter 6"be wise"..."amen". mormon"all stand before judgement seat". moroni 10 "all ends of the earth". moroni and all the other authors and prophets who recorded the word will be there at the final judgement.
in addition to the engravers there are others that qualify as prophets in the book of mormon:
Prophets of the Book of Mormon
Abinidi
Alma the Younger
Benjamin
Enos
GidGidonni
Helaman son of Alma
Helaman son of helamam
Jacob son of Lehi
Lehi the Patriarch
Lehi son of Helaman
Mormon
Moroni son of mormon
Nephi son of Lehi
Nephi son of helaman
NEphi the son of Nephi the son of helaman
Nephi the one whom 4th Nephi is named after
Samuel the Laminate
The number of prophets among the Lehite colony appears to be greater than the number among the Jews for the same period of time. But we don't have all the records for the old or New testament or the book of mormon.
Peoples of the book of mormon
THree or four major groups
Laminites 1st 600 years descendants of Laman
34 AD-231 AD there were no manner of ites
Then those that rejected the gospel were called Laminites in 4th Nephi
Laminate was different at the ending of the Book of mormon than at the first...it was religious meaning at the end of the Book of Mormon.
Nephite Descendants of nephi then later those that believed in Christ
Lemulites
Jacobites
Josephites
Jaradites spoken one time People of Jarad spoken 2 times
Mulikites as we call them but they are not mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Mulelic was not the leader of these people Zedickiah his father was 32 when taken captive by the Babylonians. Muleck was probably a young boy or an infant at the time...remember they were know as the people of Zerahemla when they were found.
Purpose of the book of mormon